“Everything was okay during the pregnancy. I don’t know what happened.” “They said my baby was fine. How could they not know?” “I thought everything was fine – why didn’t somebody do something?”

These may be only some of the things women say, think or want to know after their baby is born and they learn either soon after or later on that their baby has cerebral palsy. The reasons or answer could be because someone made a mistake or ignored important information that lead to the development of cerebral palsy in the child. Lapses in care at hospitals or other healthcare facilities happen more than you might think or hope they would, and cases Washington, D.C. are no exception. 20 percent of children who are born are delivered poorly, thus resulting in cerebral palsy – and this is only an estimate. That is roughly 200 children for every 1,000 children delivered. When it comes to medical negligence, even 1 is too many.

A cerebral palsy lawyer in the Washington, D.C. area can help you win back at least a little of your child’s life in terms of a monetary amount for damages sustained. You can use this money toward the future of your child, getting him or her the help he or she needs to develop and learn more, whether it is through a speech-language therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist or other specially trained professional.

But you still may be wondering how this sort of thing happened in the first place. Was your doctor really that negligent? Should you really be presenting them with a lawsuit? What if it was just an accident? Yes, accidents can happen and after all, doctors are human as well. However, some mistakes are simply unacceptable, and in the end, there is nothing wrong with you asking for the kind of compensation that can help your child’s future – especially since it was that mistake that lead to the need for the compensation in the first place.

Errors made by healthcare providers include many things. Consider the following, as your Washington, D.C. lawyer may also want to know the same sort of information.

There was a failure by the doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional to recognize a seizure in your baby after the birth, as well as a failure to treat the seizure.

When it becomes difficult for a baby to be delivered, a doctor may use a vacuum extractor to pull the baby out. However, excessive use of this extractor can damage the baby’s brain and result in cerebral palsy.

If there is something wrong inside the womb that requires a C-section and if the doctor does not perform the procedure in a timely way, the baby’s brain can become damaged.

Without a sufficient amount of oxygen to the brain (in adults as well as infants), the brain can become damaged. Thus if a baby’s umbilical cord becomes prolapsed, it will reduce oxygen to the baby. If a doctor does not become aware of this problem, it can be constituted as medical negligence.

At times a doctor may also use delivery forceps to help remove the baby from the mother’s womb. Using these improperly can result in brain damage and cerebral palsy.

Careful monitoring of a baby’s vital signs is important; should hospital staff misread, fail to read, or fail to respond to these vital signs, you could have a case.

Fetal distress is an obvious sign that something is wrong inside the womb and the baby is in trouble. Failure to respond or to declare fetal distress is grounds for medical negligence.

Be sure you have checked the statute of limitations in your state in order to know whether or not you can file your case. As long as you are still within the time limit, you can contact an attorney and start your case.